Fourth Row Center
by Anything But Ordinary
Summary: Future Fic: Story about all of the Salingers that takes place about a year after the finale.Chapter 3. Now up. It's Bailey's POV of the night. Please read and Review
1. Chapter 1

I own none of the characters of Party of Five since they belong to the powers that be.  
  
This story takes place about a year after the season finale. I pretty much explain everything in the story. I had this idea and I just had to write about it. It centers around Claudia and it will later branch out to the others.  
  
Please read and review  
  
Enjoy.  
  
Claudia couldn't believe this was actually happening to her. She was playing in Carnegie Hall. This had been her dream since she was a little. Granted she did get sidetracked from this path but she always found her way back to the violin. She couldn't believe that she has completed an entire year at Julliard and she loved every minute of it. However, there was one thing that was not perfect. Claudia really wanted her family and boyfriend there at her big debut as first chair violin. They all made excuses here and there, she understood but she was still disappointed.  
  
Before every show, it was a ritual of Claudia's to check on the audience. As she peaked out of the curtain on stage right, she couldn't believe her eyes. Right there in fourth row center. There was everyone . . . well almost everyone. She saw her brother Bailey who was sitting in the aisle seat. Bailey and Claud had always had a special relationship and she was glad that he was there. Bay was just completing his junior year at the University of Pennsylvania and he was happy. He finally started to put himself first. She had only seen him a hand full of times in the past year but she could see that some things never change. Bailey was complaining to an usher that something wasn't perfect.  
  
Next to Bailey was his best friend Will. Will had been Bay's best friend for as long as she could remember. Claudia thought of him as a surrogate brother. Will and Bailey live together in Pennsylvania and are still best friends.  
  
Will was sitting next to Justin and Julia who were both reading the program and laughing hysterically. They both lived in Washington DC and were as content. Justin was going to graduate from Georgetown in a week and Jules she finally found her passion in doing work for the National Organization for Women and to top her full time job she carried a full class load. Claudia was really touched that they found time in between exams and everything else in their hectic schedule to travel the hours to New York for her concert.  
  
On the right of her sister Julia was Todd. Her boyfriend of more than a year even though they were both based in different cities. Growing up, Claudia had always envied Julia for having Justin because they seem to complete each other and they made each other better people in the process. Claudia feels that she has finally found it in Todd. He has been the main reason that she is here. He is the one who got her to play again and encouraged her to go to Julliard. He was going to Northwestern for Pre Med and loving every minute of it. The two lovebirds utilized their free cell phone minutes and flew out to see each other every chance they got. She knew he was for real and the others were just for practice.  
  
Next to Todd were her best friend and former violin teacher Ross and his significant other Victor. It had been over a year since she set them up unwillingly and they were still going strong. Now that Claudia thought about it, she wasn't surprised that Ross flew across the country to see her concert. Growing up, taking lessons from Ross, he always pressured her to go to Julliard. They made a deal that if she ever played Carnegie Hall that he would be right there cheering her on. Victor started out as the family nanny but grew into a member of the family. Claudia cringed when she saw what was in his hands. It was a video camera that he must have smuggled in.  
  
Claudia smiled that everyone was here. And soon all the nerves that she had inside of her were vanished. When the conductor announced that it was two minutes to curtain, and everyone was to take there places, Claudia had to abandon her curtain.  
  
That night Claudia was probably without a doubt the best performance of her career to date. And to top it off when her name was announced her family gave her a big standing ovation and Todd and Ross both brought her flowers.  
  
After the performance, everyone greeted Claudia backstage. Claud was putting her violin away and someone came up from behind her and hugged her. It was Bailey who definitely was playing the role of the proud parent.  
  
"Wow, Claud, I knew you were good but not that good. Trust me you rocked"  
  
"Thanks Bay, I think I can kill each and everyone of you for keeping this a secret. I thought that I was going to be an orphan tonight."  
  
"We just thought it would be more fun to surprise you" Julia claimed  
  
"Yeah, Yeah, thanks for coming everyone. And Victor. I could kill you for that video camera."  
  
"Well, blame your brother I promised Owen that I would do it. He wants to bring the tape in to show and tell to show off his sister. And Charlie sends his regards, he had his plane ticket and everything but at the last minute Kirsten and all of the kids came down with the flu."  
  
She had to laugh at how much Charlie had changed over the years. He was happily married to his soul mate Kirsten and was the legal guardian of Owen who was going on eight. He also had a daughter Diana from a previous relationship who was there half of the time. And he had a son Nick who was less than a year old. And just last week he let Claudia know that they were expecting another child this time a girl in the fall. And to add to his busy schedule he ran his own business and looked after the restaurant.  
  
"Hey, Victor You need to make copies of that tape for Joe, Luke and Daphne, Griffin and Stephanie", said Julia.  
  
"Great now I have to live this night down for ever." Said Claudia sarcastically but she was smiling.  
  
"Come on Claud. You were amazing. You are always too hard on your self." Todd commented and he kept going into all of the technical stuff about the performance that only the three violinists could appreciate.  
  
Julia, Justin, Victor, Will, and Bailey were getting bored with this conversation since none of them had a great appreciation for the symphony.  
  
Finally, Bailey made a suggestion. "Lets go and eat somewhere I am starving."  
  
They all gladly agreed. Most of them did not have time to eat since they all met at the concert early to get good seats and Claudia was full of nerves to eat.  
  
After much debating, they decided to go to this diner across the street from the concert hall. They were lucky that place had a big enough table for everyone. It was a disgusting place. But none of them cared all that matter was that they were all together.  
  
While deciding what to eat, everyone broke off in his or her own directions in conversation. Bailey and Victor began to discuss Owen. Justin and Will began to try to devise a contraption to keep the table from wobbling with packages of Sweet and Low. Julia and Ross were discussing the latest legislation that she was working on which will give more rights to gay marriages. Claudia and Todd sat at the end of the table taking very quietly to each other.  
  
All of a sudden the waitress appeared. "Hey may I take your order."  
  
The whole table looked like they have seen a ghost.  
  
Almost immediately, Bailey's mouth dropped and he turned around and said, "Sarah is that really you??"  
  
Please read and review and make me feel loved and also let me know if I should bother continuing this story. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N I own nothing from Party of Five I am just a poor college student who is just taking the characters out for a while.  
  
Read and Review Please.  
  
Enjoy  
  
Sarah Reeves Marin was in for another long day at the job she hated. She began working at the dinner a little over a year ago in order to make ends meet. When she moved from San Francisco, to New York City she had no idea how expensive things were. Finally, she resorted to waitress at this diner in order to pay the bills and keep food on the table.  
  
Things weren't how Sarah envisioned it when she left about two years ago. In her head there was this fantasy, that she would all of a sudden meet her birth father and all of her unanswered questions would no longer be open ended. However, she did find her birth father after a year and half of searching. But he did not provide much comfort for her. He slammed the door in her face and wanted nothing to with her.  
  
She glanced down at the plastic digital watch that was on her right wrist and got excited. Only an hour until closing and then I am free of this place until tomorrow. However, a big group of people had just walked in. Ordinarily, she would have reveled in this opportunity for a big tip especially after a slow night like this but she just wanted to go home.  
  
Sarah approached the table. There was eight people there who were very well dressed. Sarah assumed that they had just came from Carnegie Hall. She glanced up and noticed that the girl at the head of the table looked familiar. In fact, so familiar it was unsettling. She had to know this girl from somewhere.  
  
Then two men who were leaning underneath the table came up. Sarah immediately knew who they were. The man on the right with the dark hair was Justin, he used to date her friend Julia back in San Francisco and the man with the fiery red hair was Will who was her ex boyfriend's best friend. Suddenly she realized who the girl was at the other end of the table. She couldn't believe that she didn't recognize her. It was Claudia Salinger, who was Bailey's her ex boyfriend's younger sister.  
  
Sarah wasn't really sure what her reaction should be. Part of her wanted to go grab Debbie out of the back room before anyone could see her and pass the table off to her. But then they were closer to her than her adopted family for many years and she was curious why they were all in New York.  
  
Hesitantly, Sarah approached the table and broke the ice with "May I take your order?"  
  
Almost immediately, the man who was sitting at the other end of the table with his back turned to Sarah turned around. Sarah was surprised at who it was. She was so shocked that her heart skipped a beat and started to beat rapidly. It was Bailey Salinger the man who at one point she considered to be her soul mate. She definitely was not ready to see him again. Bailey's mouth dropped and he turned around and said, "Sarah is that really you??"  
  
She glanced around the table to survey the reactions of everyone. Julia had practically chocked on her water. Will had dropped all of the Sweet n Low that he had in his hands. All of the color had drained out of Claudia's face. Justin and Ross definitely looked shocked and began staring intently at her. The other two men at the table, who Sarah did not know began looking around the table trying to figure out what was going on.  
  
Sarah finally answered Bailey's question. "Yeah, Bailey it's me. What brings you guys to the Big Apple?"  
  
Everyone was too shocked to answer let alone make small talk with her. So Victor answered, "Well, Claudia here was debuting at Carnegie Hall and we couldn't resist the opportunity to surprise her."  
  
"Wow, Claud that's amazing. I had no idea you started to play again. I am sure you were great."  
  
Claudia replied uncertainly, "Umm. Thanks."  
  
There was an awkward silience at the table. No one really knew what to say and everyone continued to stare at Bailey for answers.  
  
And then Julia got up and the whole table watched. "Umm Justin you know what, we should really go to Penn Station and get on the last train to DC before we miss it because I have to umm work tomorrow."  
  
"Julia, since when do you have to work tomorrow. I thought you took the weekend off."  
  
"I did but I was checking my messages and we have to go."  
  
Justin finally got the hint that Julia was trying to get him to leave so that her brother would be able to have alone time with Sarah. "Umm yeah. Now that you mention it I should be going to study for finals and all."  
  
Claudia got the hint and got up next. "Hey, you guys there is a curfew at the dorms and I have to be back at the dorms by eleven or . . . umm...." She stared at the ground. "Or very bad things will happen."  
  
Todd burst out laughing since he was still oblivious to the situation. "Since when?"  
  
"Since now." And she grabbed her violin with her left hand and threw a twenty on the table and grabbed Todd's suit and dragged him out of the restaurant.  
  
Will stood up not sure of what to stay. "You know what. I think I left my sunglasses across the street so I better go back and ask an usher if he has seen them." A smirk quickly grew across his face because he was proud of the white lie he had just told.  
  
Ross got up now. "You know what we (signaling towards Victor, who was watching this whole situation and desperately was trying not to laugh) should go with you Will you have no idea how mean those ushers can be the more men the better."  
  
Victor had finally lost it he had no idea what was going on and began to laugh hysterically and decided to play along with it. "Yeah, come on men. We have a mission. See you later Bay."  
  
Out side the restaurant everyone met up after feeding Bailey there lame excuses on why they have to leave.  
  
Todd finally broke the laughter, "Umm. Claud like this may be a stupid question or something but who was that waitress?"  
  
Claudia said, "That was Sarah Reeves. She dated my brother for like five years on and off. Bailey had even wanted to marry her but she claimed that she wasn't ready and she was the one who finally got Bailey to stop drinking the first time he fell off the wagon. But, I guess, she wasn't ready for all of the responsibilities that Bay had in his life like Owen because one day she said she was going to New York for like two weeks or something to find her birth father and she never came back. It took Bailey a long time to get over her."  
  
Victor exclaimed, "You mean that was Sarah. Bailey's Sarah. Whoa. Out of all the places in the city we could of chosen to eat we picked there." Victor's mind wondered to a time when he first started working with the Salingers and he remembered that Bailey had a girlfriend who was on vacation but eventually ended up dumping him. He remembered a lot of nights where Bailey waited with his hand on the receiver wishing that she would call.  
  
"Yeah, I can't believe that it was her. I didn't recognize her with her hair cut so short and she must have dyed it blond or something." Claudia said as the group ventured down the street.  
  
"I can't believe that we ran into her. It took Bay such a long time to get over her and he is finally in a good place in life. You know back at school. I don't want Bay to drop everything and follow her here because he is finally starting to act his age and live for himself." Will said quietly.  
  
"Yeah and she hasn't tried to contact him in all this time. I remember he was calling her everyday and she wasn't calling him back and like any one would he just moved on." Julia said  
  
Meanwhile back at the diner. Bailey and Sarah continued to stare at each other neither one of them had said a word.  
  
Finally, Bailey broke the ice, "I guess my family thought that we should be alone or something because they sure went out of their way to get out of here fast."  
  
"So you mean Claudia really doesn't have a curfew, Julia doesn't have to work, Will didn't lose his sunglasses?"  
  
"Yeah, well they mean well I hope you don't mind."  
  
"Mind? Why would I mind. It felt so good to see everyone again. You guys were my family for so long. I can't believe that I didn't recognize Claud. She's so grown up. Was that her boyfriend with her?"  
  
"Yup. He's name is Todd. I am trying my best to hate him like every big brother should hate his little sisters boyfriend but I can't he's been really good for her and they have been dating for over a year."  
  
"Wow, last time I saw her she was afraid to talk to boys."  
  
"Yeah a lot has changed since you have left."  
  
Both laugh uncomfortably.  
  
There was another period of awkward silence. Neither Bailey or Sarah really knew what to say to each to each other after all this time nor their relationship hadn't exactly ended on good terms.  
  
Bailey stood up from his chair because he couldn't take the silence anymore. "Umm. Sarah I really should be going. You know. It's like Claudia's night and I should go see her and I haven't really seen anyone in a while and Will and I have to get back to Philadelphia for exams tomorrow and I haven't really started studying."  
  
Sarah saw that he was just making excuses that he really just wanted to get out of the diner. "Yeah you know its okay I really should be closing the place up if I have any prayer of getting out of here by one." She said her voice barely audible.  
  
Bailey grabbed his sports jacket and the Victor's video camera, which he had left at the table and walked slowly and unsteadily to the door as if he had forgotten how to walk. He turned around and cleared his throat. "Sarah, you know it was really good seeing you again. We ought to do it again sometime."  
  
And then he left before she had even processed her thoughts. It was at that moment that Sarah broke down and cried.  
  
To Be Continued??????????  
  
I have ideas for this story, I promise it will get better I am just trying to set it up still and hopefully I will have the next chapter up. That is if I get enough reviews. Lol.  
  
Please read and review. 


	3. Chapter 3

As usual I own nothing. Unfortunately, all of these characters I am borrowing and just playing with them.  
  
I thought I would do this chapter on Bailey's view of that night and I think the next one will be Sarah's POV. So unlike the first 2 chapters this one is in first person point of view.  
  
Thanks for all of your reviews you all made my day (  
  
Bailey's POV  
  
Wow. That's the only word to describe it. Out of thousands of restaurants in the city, we had to go to this one. God, the odds must be one in a million.  
  
Sure I had fantasies about coming to visit Claud and accidentally running into Sarah like it was the universe's serendipitic way of putting us together. Who wouldn't? I mean Sarah was like my soul mate. At least I thought she was. But I never thought that it would actually ever happen. I am still in denial. I pinch my skin to make sure this night is not actually a dream. And it isn't. It is a living nightmare.  
  
I am glad that my family isn't here because I don't know what to say and I don't really feel like putting my feelings into words. I know that if my sisters were here they would want every detail. I can see Claudia harassing me for information. I know I have to talk to them eventually. But right now I just can't. In fact I can't even think straight my mind is in a blur. The last time I felt like this was when Sarah left and I realized that she would never come back again.  
  
God, I hate thinking about that day. In fact, I used to spend a good part of every day trying to keep myself busy so that I don't think about it because it was the hardest thing to get over. It took awhile but low and behold I did.  
  
I still cant believe that I left like that. Throughout the past couple of years, I imagined in my head what would I say if I was ever put in this situation. And it certainly wasn't 'I have to go now.' I wanted to ask her so many questions. Like why did you leave? How could you leave Owen? And would it have killed you to pick up a phone? The main question I like just wanted to ask her Why?  
  
But like a coward I just left and with that none of my questions were left unanswered.  
  
Thinking about this now, I guess I have some repressed grief over this whole situation and the last thing I need to be is angry.  
  
If I had passed Sarah on the streets, I don't even think that I would have recognized her. Her hair was a different color, she had lost weight, and something else was different I just can't put my finger on it. I mean she has probably changed in two years because I know that I have. Come on, since she has left I have moved and for the first time since my parents had died, I felt like the weight of my family had been lifted off my shoulders. Actually, I cant believe I am think about this now. Just the other day I was on the phone with my older brother Charlie and he asked me a very simple question, "Bay are you happy?"  
  
With most people this question is no big deal. But it was always something I struggled with.  
  
And without any type of hesitation, I answered, "Yes" And for once I actually meant it. I wasn't just telling him what he wanted to hear and he must have sensed it in my voice. I know it surprised Charlie but it also shocked me too. I love school. I love living on the east coast because it is such a different dynamic of the west coast. I love everything about my life from the frequent phone calls to my sisters and my nightly phone call with Owen. I love that all of the members of my family have found their place in the world. In fact, if you asked me yesterday I would of told you that there is not one thing I would change about my life. And now I am not so sure. The haze on my shoulders surrounds the happiness.  
  
Now is time to ask myself a question. 'Do I want to see her again?' I don't know what the answer is. Even though it is a simple question just thinking about it makes my brain feel like it is going to explode into a million pieces all over the sidewalk.  
  
After walking probably countless blocks, I arrive at the hotel. I look at my watch I must have been walking around in a daze for the past two hours. I enter the revolving doors of the hotel and the first thing I see is the bar.  
  
Since it is after two am, it is deserted. I go in not sure of what I want. The bartender asks me what I want. I know I want a drink of beer but it is just not worth it. It would be so easy for the bartender to pour me a cold beer and I know that it will help ease my pain only temporarily. But it is just not worth it. It is tempting but not worth falling off the wagon again. I get up without saying a word and I practically run to the elevator.  
  
I go to the room that I am sharing with Will for the weekend. I stand in the hallway with my key in my hand. I try to turn the key ever so quietly because I know if I wake Will up that I will have to explain everything to him. And I don't think that I am ready to do this. I take a deep breath and open the door.  
  
I see Will sitting on his bed watching the television.  
  
"Bailey, seriously, we have to stay in hotels more often you gotta love their selection of television shows. Come on they got everything. I just watched the Naughty Nurses Portuguese and I think it was better."  
  
Will rambled some more on the different programs that he had watched that night on the hotel's cable. However, everything he said just went in one year and out the other. For all I know he was talking about nuclear physics. I just keep nodding my head so he thinks that I am listening to him intently.  
  
Before I can say anything, Will cuts to the chase, "So what happen you know after I left?"  
  
"Yeah, I was meaning to ask you if you found your sunglasses?"  
  
"Come on Bay, you knew that we had to get out of their the tension between you two was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Even Victor and Todd sensed it and they didn't have any clue of what was going on. I just thought that if we left maybe it would alleviate some of the anxiety and then maybe you two could talk."  
  
"Yeah I knew you only had the best intentions. But to tell you the truth after you guys left it unease and the angst got to world record levels after you left. Finally I couldn't take it anymore so I made up some sorry excuse and left."  
  
"You left just like that?"  
  
"Yeah, well ,excuse me Will. There isn't exactly any type of etiquette book for this situation. I didn't know what to do so I panicked."  
  
"You freaked out and left?"  
  
"Yeah Will what did you think I did?"  
  
"I thought you two would at least talk."  
  
"Easier said than done. Look its past 3. I don't really feel like hashing this out play by play for you. I just need to sleep. Besides I have to meet my sisters in like 4 hours for breakfast. Just do me a favor and let me sleep."  
  
Will beguilingly turned off the TV and turned the lights off. Within minutes Bailey could hear his friend snoring on the other bed.  
  
However, Sleep is one thing, he would not get that night.  
  
TBC  
  
Please read and review and make me feel loved.  
  
I will try and update as soon as possible but it probably wont be until late on Monday. 


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